


The Nightmare

by justcallmeasmodeus



Category: The Magicians (TV), The Magicians - Lev Grossman
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 12:58:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13318611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justcallmeasmodeus/pseuds/justcallmeasmodeus
Summary: What does a nightmare look like when you're queen bitch?





	The Nightmare

Margo walked the empty halls of the cottage. Had she been thinking, she would have seen the signs of a nightmare, but she hadn’t been. She had gone to bed happy and content, and normally that was enough to keep the nightmares at bay.

Lately they hadn’t been happening as often, but what they lacked in volume they made up for in sheer terror.

She walked quietly, looking for Eliot. The longer it took her to find him, the more frantically she searched. Her heart was pounding, and her palms were starting to sweat. He was the one thing she actually cared about; she couldn’t lose him. She would die for him.

She ran outside, the air frigid against her exposed skin. She called for him; worried she had been left behind. She saw a group of people in the distance, and she made her way over to them despite the fact she was trudging through half a foot of snow in a sheer nightgown in the middle of the night.

Her limbs felt frozen by the time that she made it to the group, but they were standing around a fire that was giving off minimal warmth. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she realized that she recognized the people around her: they were her friends. Penny, Quentin, and Alice made a half circle on the other side of the fire, silently staring at her with hungry eyes.

“Hey guys, have you seen Eliot?” Margo could barely force the words out of her trembling lips.

“There’s my Bambi.” Eliot stepped into the light of the fire from between Penny and Quentin, his face unreadable and his voice hard and flat.

“Eliot?” Margo stepped toward him and he stepped away.

“Don’t touch me you diseased wretch.” Eliot spit in her direction, and the other three pointed at Margo and laughed.

“What are you talking about Eliot?” Margo whimpered, tears beginning to leave cold tracks on her cheeks.

“You know what I’m talking about Margo. Or maybe we should ask Eliza?”

Out from between Penny and Quentin stepped a young girl with long straight black hair, and deathly white skin. She was wearing a white nightgown and her head was down.

“No Eliot, please don’t do this.”

“What? Don’t you recognize Eliza?”

“Eliot I was different then please.” Margo stepped toward Eliot again, but he stepped back and she fell to her knees in the snow.

“Every day you reminded her how imperfect she was. How ugly, how broken, how undeserving. You are the one who pushed her to do it Margo. You were her friend Margo.”

“I’m s-s-sorry.” Margo was crying and shaking so hard, she could barely force any sound from between her lips.

“What’s to say you won’t do this to all of your friends? Is no one safe?”

Eliza looked up at Margo, her dead black eyes locking with Margo’s. A red line of chewed flesh flapped in the winter breeze on her neck, and a serrated steak knife spilled ruby droplets on the fresh blanket of snow.

“I trusted you with my life, and look what you did with it.” Eliza’s mouth didn’t move, but she spoke just the same. Margo looked down at the ground, ashamed. “You put on the good girl show. Make sure that your look is flawless, wear that nonchalance like an evening gown. The less you care about people the less they can hurt you right?”

“Eliza please, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well Margo, sorry isn’t good enough. Do you know what you are Margo? You are a phony.” As she said the words Alice gurgled and dropped to the ground, the snow around her neck slowly turning scarlet. “You are a lie.” Penny was next, his head snapping backwards as a spray of blood shot across the night while he crumpled to the ground. “You are broken.” Quentin cried out, reaching towards Margo for help, realization washing over his eyes only to be dimmed by death as he fell on top of Alice.

“Please, don’t hurt Eliot. I’ll do anything.”

“Why should I spare him?”

“Because I love him.”

“You don’t deserve to love anyone.”

Margo screamed as panic covered Eliot’s eyes and he reached for her. This time when he spoke his normal voice was back.

“Margo?” Eliza snapped her fingers and Eliot fell to his knees in front of Margo.

“No!” She screamed, feeling her throat crack from the cold. “What did you do?”

“Nothing more than what you did to me.”

“Eliot!” Margo screamed, trying to crawl over to him while Eliza held her back. He reached out and clutched her wrist with a bloody hand. He opened his mouth to speak, but blood only oozed out of his lips.

“You… did… this.” He managed to choke out, his blood spittle burning where it hit Margo in the face. She watched the light die in his eyes, feeling her heart and soul die with it. He was the only one that she cared about, and he died because of her.

“Eliot!” Margo sat up in bed, her heart threatening to pound its way out of her chest. She tossed and turned frantically, her eyes unfocused. She fought against Eliza’s grip, only stopping when she heard Eliot’s voice in the distance.

“Hey Bambi…” His voice was low and soothing, as if he was talking to a wild animal.

Margo blinked, and the snowy landscape slowly disappeared and was replaced by her familiar bedroom walls. Eliza’s grip turned out to just be her bedding tangled up in her legs.

She worked her legs out, getting up to stumble over to him. She threw her arms around his neck in a death grip, clutching fistfuls of his silk pajamas so hard that she could feel her nails biting half-moons into her palms.

Eliot wrapped his arms around her, one hand cradling the back of her head as he picked her up and carried her back to bed. She trembled against him, still feeling the bitter cold of the winter night and the burning of his blood on her face. She listen to the rhythm of his heart beat, and focused on his breathing.

She worked to match her breathing with his, eventually releasing her death grip on his shirt as the warmth of his skin chased away the chill of the nightmare. She felt him let her go, and she fell back onto her pillows on her bed.

“Comfortable?” Eliot murmured against her head.

Margo nodded, still not trusting herself not to scream if she opened her mouth.

“There we go.” He ran his fingers through her hair, lulling her back to tranquility. “Relax, no one can hurt you.”

But he was wrong. Anyone could hurt her, just by hurting him. Hurting him would destroy her, more than she already destroyed herself.

Eliot stood up and remade her bed with ease. He hesitated at the side of her bed, and she patted the bed next to her. She could almost feel his smile in the dark as he slid underneath the covers next to her. He pulled her close to him and kissed the top of her head.

He was asleep within minutes, but Margo knew that no more sleep would come to her tonight. Every time she closed her eyes the image of Eliot’s blood splattered across the ground burned into her mind. Instead she placed a hand on Eliot’s chest, calmed by the beat of his heart against her hand as she kept a watch for black eyes in a pale face.


End file.
